-
Architects: Curious About
- Area: 153 m²
- Year: 2023
-
Photographs:Kim Fohmann
Text description provided by the architects. Architectural Concept - “A roofed square and a circle” is a wooden house in the Southern Palatinate, which stands as a solitaire on a plot on the edge of a field with a panoramic view of the Kalmit. The title comes from the timber builder, who said: “It's just a roofed square” - and ultimately that's exactly what it is.
The client wanted a house in which life could take place on one level - and therefore without barriers. Instead of many individual rooms, everything was to be open and communicative, yet with the possibility of creating places of retreat through simple partitions. The design approach was therefore to zone the area under the pitched roof with just a single element - the core, which leaves the rest of the interior free to be used. In accordance with the client's wishes, the core is both a separating and connecting element with four large sliding doors, which relate the public and private areas in the house to each other and at the same time accommodate all the ancillary rooms. By cleverly balancing the ridge height and roof pitch, an additional bathroom and two small rooms could be created on the upper floor, making the house usable as a family home.
For the outdoor area, the wish was to leave the garden as natural as possible and only add a terrace. The client was quickly convinced by the idea of an island in a sea of flowers, a terrace that extends out over the meadow. In keeping with the motif of the island, it is set slightly apart from the house as a geometrically independent element.
Construction and Materials - The timber frame construction consists of a total of 28 prefabricated wall, ceiling and roof elements, which are connected with Hilti HCW anchors and fixed to the floor slab. The high degree of prefabrication ensured a short construction time as well as precise and efficient construction. The outer shell of the house is formed by a rear-ventilated wooden façade made of pre-greyed Nordic spruce, which is mounted vertically and visibly screwed. Inside the house, light-colored interior walls and an exposed wooden ceiling create a cozy atmosphere. Cellulose was used as blown-in insulation for both the exterior walls and the raftered roof to ensure optimum thermal insulation.
Sustainability and Energy Efficiency - As a KFW Efficiency House 40 EE, the building technology concept relies holistically on sustainable energy sources. A central component is the use of environmental heat through a combination of geothermal energy and heat pump technology. The concept is also supplemented by a photovoltaic system on the roof and a decentralized ventilation system with heat recovery. The combination of a well-insulated building envelope and high-quality building technology ensures a high level of energy efficiency, increases comfort and contributes to reducing CO2 emissions. The house represents a forward-looking overall concept for a typology that allows for changes thanks to a resource-saving, efficient construction method and a flexible basic structure and can be easily adapted to the needs of future owners.
